Harems are a special breed of anime; typically one guy does one act of kindness for different girls (typically), and suddenly he had a fan club of them chasing after his love… at least that sums up the ones I’ve seen. It sure seems like a teenagers’ wet dream come true, but reality hits much harder. But what hits even harder is Date a Bullet Nightmare or Queen!
Throw in some magical girl elements and you get Date A Live, a story of a high schooler, Shidou, who thinks the best way to cure rampaging sensitive super-powered girls is by taking them on dates… I kid you not. I discuss this in another blog post. It’s not a bad anime (in my opinion), and has some really memorable characters, but it’s by no means stellar, and you shouldn’t take it so seriously.
Out of the batch of magical heroines who fawn over our protag-kun, one stands far above the rest and extends beyond the title of “Wifu”, and that is Kurumi. Well… she’s actually an anti-hero; she kills without a shred of mercy. They call her “Nightmare”, after all.
Somewhat of a vampire.
Basically a time-lord.
An akimbo gunslinger.
Part yandere doppelganger.
Equal parts cuteness and terrifying.
Very moe.
Red and black lolita-clad, super-powered Kurumi sports a hunting rifle in one hand and a revolver in the other, because one firearm just isn’t enough. Did I mention one eye is red and the other gold? She has a sleuth of other abilities that would just take a whole other post to talk about.
I guess what I’m trying to say is…
She’s BADASS.
So when I heard there would be a spinoff to Date A Live starring best girl Kurumi developed by Kodakawa, I was shocked & awed. Not only is she VERY popular among otakus, but so little is revealed about her character that she’s shrouded in mystery, so it was smart for her to be given her own spotlight.
Date a Bullet (hah, get it?) takes place after season two of the parent show. Well… it actually follows after the season’s OVA. It might’ve gotten buried with all the releases that came out, so I’ll give a brief summary.
Following a rather adorable date with Shidou gone wrong, we learn that a clone of Kurumi was dragged away, “killed” by her main-yandere body. So where does she go?
What happens when we die?
We play real-life fortnite in hell… I guess.
Who wrote this script? *mumbles* it’s not a bad idea it’s just.. A lot of work just for a second wind….
Anyway best girl Kurumi is brought to a special plane of existence where spirits go when they die, and she must fight for her life, or rather… the life she lost.
And it takes place in a school, because of course it does. And there’s a church next to it for some reason. All on a floating landmass.
And each spirit must fight to be the last girl standing and get their wish granted; still more believable than Angel Beats!.
I gotta say I was slightly disappointed by the narration. Kurumi makes an appearance 11/10. Story 4.5/10. Remove her from the story and it becomes absolute garbage, kinda like how there’s several action thrillers starring Liam Neeson; we never came to watch the plot *whispers* it was always about Liam. And it’s no different with Kurumi.
She quite literally carries the franchise.
Kidding. Kidding! But she does make the anime far more enjoyable in my opinion.
Ara ara, where was I?
Oh yes. The plot just felt linear. There was hardly a battle royale and more of an argument between generic bratty teens. The fights were quick, and I was honestly itching to see more of Kurumi in full-blown cinematic action.
We get a seer glimpse of Kurumi’s past, but it leaves us with more questions than answers. Queen had a lot of potential as a rival to Nightmare, but we hardly get any buildup of tension between the two and when the showdown finally happens… I was just left feeling like… oh? Does that wrap it up?
Not trying to knock it though! Definitely watch to support the studio and moreso to watch Kurumi in all her yandere glory. Did I mention her Gothic lolitia got a gorgeous makeover? And the visuals received a nice upgrade from the rest of the anime series.
So what can we conclude from this film? It unfortunately leaves us with more questions than answers, opening up new plot-lines and character background but barely elaborating on what it could all mean.
Was Kurumi once a human attending school?
Did Kurumi used to have friends?
Where does Kurumi go from here?
Will there be a sequel? Because if so the creators can answer these questions and tie up any other loose strands.
Besides, I haven’t lost interest. The main series may be losing steam, but I committed to staying for the entire ride. Lemme know your thoughts below! Thanks for reading!
Not subscribed to the blog? Check out more posts on anime and manga I’ve reviewed up above!